{"id":6748,"date":"2013-10-21T08:40:20","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T13:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=6748"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:26:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:26:42","slug":"youngalums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=6748","title":{"rendered":"Two win UNC distinguished young alumni awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>
Thanassis Cambanis ’96, left, and Stuart Alan Albright Jr. ’01. (Photo by Shane Snider.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An award-winning teacher-author \u2014 who inspires students in the classroom and on the football field \u2014 and a journalist-teacher \u2014 who has written extensively about the conflicts and changes sweeping the Middle East \u2014 have been honored by the GAA\u00a0with Distinguished Young Alumni Awards.<\/p>\n

Both are alumni of the College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

Although Stuart Alan Albright Jr.<\/a> ’01 of Durham and Thanassis Cambanis<\/a> ’96 of Beirut have taken different achievement paths, they have much in common, particularly in their impact on young people. Both received the GAA’s awards at a banquet Oct. 18 at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center for bringing credit to the University through their achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe remarkable accomplishments of many of Carolina\u2019s younger alumni such as Stuart and Thanassis are truly inspiring,\u201d said GAA President Douglas Dibbert ’70.<\/p>\n

This is the 25th year the GAA has bestowed Distinguished Young Alumni Awards recognizing alumni age 40 or younger.<\/p>\n

Albright, a native of Gastonia who graduated from UNC in 2001 with a degree in English, is an English teacher and a football coach at Jordan High School in Durham. In 2006, he was named the Durham Public Schools Teacher of the Year, and in 2007, he received a $25,000 Milken Educator Award,<\/a> a national recognition dubbed the \u201cOscar of teaching\u201d by Teacher magazine.<\/p>\n

Albright, who also earned a master\u2019s degree in education from Harvard, started a publishing company specializing in the works of his creative writing students. He also has published books of his own: two nonfiction \u2014 Sidelines<\/em>, about high school football in North Carolina and based on his coaching experience, and Blessed Returns<\/em>, focusing on a summer he spent in Camden, N.J., working with poor students that inspired him to be a teacher \u2014 and a novel, Bull City<\/em>, the story of a teacher from Durham trying to prove his brother is innocent of murder.<\/p>\n

Cambanis, a native of Chapel Hill who graduated from UNC in 1997 with a degree in history, is a former Daily Tar Heel<\/em> editor who became a foreign correspondent, launching his career with The Associated Press in Greece and Indonesia. He later focused on the Middle East, writing for publications such as The New York Times, The Atlantic<\/em> and The Boston Globe<\/em>. He also has published a book, A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah\u2019s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel<\/em>, and is working on another about Egypt\u2019s revolution. Cambanis has been nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize and twice received The Boston Globe\u2019s Publisher\u2019s Excellence Award, for his coverage of the invasion of Iraq and the war in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Cambanis has taught journalism at Princeton University, where he earned a master\u2019s degree in public affairs and international relations, as well as public affairs topics at Columbia University\u2019s School of International and Public Affairs and The New School\u2019s Graduate Program in International Affairs.<\/p>\n

Since 1989, the GAA\u2019s Distinguished Young Alumni Awards have recognized alumni age 40 or younger whose accomplishments have brought credit to the University. A roster of past recipients is available at alumni.unc.edu\/awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An award-winning teacher-author \u2014 who inspires students in the classroom and on the football field \u2014 and a journalist-teacher \u2014 who has written extensively about the conflicts and changes sweeping the Middle East \u2014 have been honored by the GAA with Distinguished Young Alumni Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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